The Power of Three
by Bchan86
Summary: The year is 2046. The Charmed Ones are retired, but Melinda's Three oldest daughters Penelope, Pepper, and Piera step up to take on their new roles. Will they be able handle such a task or will the Halliwell line end with them?


Hovering over the book stand with a piece of paper clutched into her hands, Penelope read aloud the words written down in black pen.

"Help this witch in times of need, even if it's filled with greed. I call upon those with an open ear, to come forth and listen here."

After reading the spell she had made only minutes before, she folded up the piece of paper and stuffed it into the breast pocket of her long-sleeved button up shirt and waited. And waited. And waited. Looking about the cluttered attic, she listened for something, anything that might've heard her, but let her head droop in defeat; a heavy sigh escaping her. It had failed. "The one time I do a spell on my own without my sisters here with me and nothing happens. I knew I should've just took some time and walked about town to clear my head some, but no, I had to come up here with a half-assed spell and look what happened. Maybe I'm not as great a witch as everyone makes me out to be. A 'Charmed One'. Feh. That's a crock of shit."

Turning around, she walked across the room, but stopped mid-way from grabbing the knob to the door. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked back to see if maybe, just maybe, something or someone was there, but still there was nothing. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I came up here." Thinking back to earlier, she tried to come up with an idea, if anything as to why she had came up to the attic. It was like any other normal day in San Fransisco. The wheather was nice, Mother and Father were off at work, while Pepper and Piera were watching over the twins, and don't even get her started on her older brother.

And where was Penelope during all this? Shut up in her bedroom; a light up ciggarette in one hand and a half glass of wine in the other as she stared at the blinking space bar on the blank computer screen. She had been working on a new story the last few weeks and so far, all she had was a title. Every time she had an idea for a beginning, it was always shot down and deleted by her negative thinking. At the rate she was going now, she doubted she would make the dead-line for new books coming out in Fall. Running a hand through her long auburn mane, she stared down at the floor with a sad smile.

"A novelist. What made me choose such a stupid career as that I wonder."

--

"What were you doing?"

Stopping halfway down the stairs, Penny glanced down to see her youngest sister Zoe at the bottom step, staring up at her with that curious look on her face that little children always did. Even at 3-years-old, Zoe wasn't one to judge so lightly. If she was ignored, all hell broke loose and that was something Penny was not in the mood for right now.

"I was, uh, just checking to see if any of my, uh...old notebooks were still put away where I had them so I could see if maybe they could help me with my new story I'm working on."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but there's so much stuff up there that I couldn't find them, so..."

With a shrug of her shoulders, she continued down the steps, but stopped from heading into the kitchen to turn around and face the little girl. Crouching down to meet eye to eye with her sister, she spoke in a concerned tone.

"Does Mama know you're out here Zoey?"

"...Yes..."

"Really? So if I go and find her and ask if she knows where you are, she'll--"

"No! Don't!"

Penny chuckled inwardly as she felt a pair of chubby hands grab hold of one of her own hands and tug on it; a whine-like tone escaping her.

"Then why don't you go find your brother and go play. If you're good, I'll promise to get you something special while I'm out."

"You promise?!" Zoe squeaked, her eyes seeming to light up at the sound of 'speical'.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," she said, taking one of her hands and marking the cross symbol over herself. "Stick a needle in my eye."

"Why would you do that?"

Penny shaked her head and rose up.

"It's just a figure of speech. Now go on and I'll be back in a little while alright?"

"OK!"

With that, the toddler was up and gone from sight, the sound of footsteps running off until she was left all alone once more in the hallway of the house. Taking a look about the place, she took a deep breath in, let it out slowly and turned to make her way towards the front door. Speaking to no one in particular, she yelled, "I'm going out for a bit. Don't know when I'll be back!" Grabbing her coat off the coat hanger on the side of the door, she put it on, zipped it up, and opened the door to step outside.

Not being outside for the last 3 days, she brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun. "At the rate I'm going, you'd think I'd be an albino or something. That's worse than Piera and she's so pale, you'd think she'd glow in the dark!" While pondering on this, she made her way down the sidewalk heading into town, the sound of birds chirping, dogs barking, and cars passing her by making her feel like an outcast.

"I really need to get out more often. After returning home from college a few years ago, I've done nothing, but keep myself locked up in my room all day savor for the bathroom and getting something to eat. Which that reminds me..."

Fishing into the left side of her coat's pocket, she pulled out a pack of ciggerates and opened the top to peer inside.

"Only 3 more left. Better get some more before I get writer's block again and seriously lose it this time."

Closing and stuffing the pack back into her pocket, Penny continued on into town, crossing the street at a cross walk and making her way towards the bookstore. Before doing so however, she stopped by a Newspaper stand and bought a paper, skimming through it a moment to see if anything important in the world had happened recently without her knowing.

Gas prices were rising...an old woman just turned 103 the other day...the want ad's were seeming more desperate for workers more than ever...nope. Nothing more than just the usual. Turning the next page, a sudden gush of wind came out of nowhere and blew against her, causing her to lose the grip on her paper. Watching it fly off, she followed it, trying to gather the pieces coming apart as it continued to soar.

_"Does the outside world really hate me this much?" _she wondered as she bent down to gather another section of her paper. As soon as her hand reached out to grab hold of it, another gush of wind came up, causing her to drop what papers she had with her and to once again, take off down the street. "God damn it..." Regretting to have ever thought of even setting one foot outside now, she shook her head and took off after it, knowing she'd most likely get fined for littering if she didn't take care of the mess she was making.


End file.
